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Retired Multz continues writing about law

Photo by Gretel Daugherty—Carroll Multz recently was honored by the Colorado Bar Association, particularly for his work in continuing education for lawyers. Multz has written extensively for state law journals and has continued his writing with two novels in the foreground, “Deadly Deception” and “Justice Denied.”

By {screen_name}
Monday, August 1, 2011

Attorneys across Colorado owe Grand Junction lawyer Carroll Multz a debt of gratitude when they glean an insight from the pages of The Colorado Lawyer or from a continuing-education class.

Multz, whose contributions to the practice of law for half a century were recognized last month by the Colorado Bar Association, was instrumental in helping attorneys keep up with changes in the law, plus advances in the arts and science of representation.

Much of that aspect of Multz’s career is hidden from his neighbors in western Colorado, where he is known for establishing a battered-wife defense. Students at Mesa State College, soon to be Colorado Mesa University, also are familiar with Multz as an adjunct professor for 21 years now.

Beyond the Continental Divide, however, Multz is known for his trial acumen. As a young prosecutor he successfully prosecuted a district judge in Colorado Springs for bribery, and he led the way toward better education among practicing attorneys.

Now retired from the legal profession, Multz remains a prolific writer as the author of two published novels, both set in Colorado communities. He has three more novels on the way.

Multz contributed the first story to The Colorado Lawyer and added 20 more over the years, on subjects such as cross-examination techniques, the differences between arresting and stopping and frisking an individual.

“You don’t need probable cause to stop and frisk,” Multz noted.

His comments on cross-examination carry heft. He once was approached by a mafia lieutenant who thanked him for the respectful way Multz treated him during a critical cross-examination.

In addition to The Colorado Lawyer, with which he worked from 1971 to 1984, he wrote for the Annual Survey of Colorado Law and served on the board of directors and board of editors of of that publication from 1975 to 1978.

Multz served for 17 years on the board of directors of the bar association’s continuing education program, including a stint as president, when the education programs became mandatory for lawyers.

As a district attorney, Multz was the first prosecutor in the state elected to head the criminal-law section of the bar association and served on the drafting committees of the Colorado Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure in 1971 and 1972.

He also served on the ethics and other bar committees.

The son of an attorney in Montana, Multz served as a clerk in the Colorado Supreme Court before a brief brush with Hollywood.

The sister of Troy Donahue met him at a party, where she commented that he looked a great deal like her brother, he said. The upshot was he was a stunt rider for Donahue in a Western film, “A Distant Trumpet.”

His father was worried “that I was becoming a bum,” so Multz struck a bargain: He’d return to the law, but in Colorado.

Multz worked in Denver, then set up a practice in Steamboat Springs before moving to Grand Junction.